Kempsford, Gloucestershire

Description
Kempsford, a village and a parish in Gloucestershire. The village stands on the river Thames, at the boundary with Wilts, adjacent to the Thames and Severn Canal, 3 1/2 miles S of Fairford station on the Oxford and Fairford branch of the G.W.R., and 10 N of Swindon. It is supposed to have occupied the site of a Roman settlement, and has a post and money order office under Fairford (S.O.); telegraph office, Fairford. The parish contains also the hamlets of Dunfield, Horcott, and Whelford. Acreage, 4953; population, 790. The manor belonged to Earl Harold, was held at Domesday by Emulf de Hesding, passed to the Chaworths, the Despen-cers, the Dukes of Lancaster, the Thynnes, and the Lords Coleraine. A manor house was built on it by the Thynnes on the site of the old castle belonging to the Duke of Lancaster; its place is now occupied by the manor farm. A battle was fought here in 800 between the Hwicii of Gloucestershire and the Walsati of Wilts. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Patron, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The church was built in the llth century, altered about the middle of the 14th century by Henry Duke of Lancaster, and has a remarkably fine central tower. It has been restored. There is a chapel of ease at Whelford, and a Roman Catholic chapel at Horcott.